Occupy Treasury: HAMP'd

By Big Tent Democrat, Section Obama Administration
Posted on Tue Oct 04, 2011 at 02:43:26 PM EST
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Pro Publica on Treasury's disgraceful performance regarding HAMP:

Why has the administration’s flagship foreclosure prevention program been so ineffective in helping struggling homeowners get loan modifications and stay in their homes? One reason: The government’s supervision of the program has apparently ranged from nonexistent to weak.

[. . .] “For two years, they’ve known how abysmal servicers were performing, and decided to do nothing,” said Neil Barofsky, the former special inspector general for the Troubled Asset Relief Program, better known as TARP or the bank bailout, which provided the money for HAMP. “It demonstrates that if you have a set of rules for which compliance is completely voluntary and no meaningful consequences for those who violate them, having all the audits and reviews in the world are not going to make a bit of difference,” he continued. “It’s why the program has been a colossal failure.”

Remember, this was the Obama Administration's major initiative to address the homeowners crisis in America. Geithner is an incompetent scoundrel. If Obama loses next year, it will be because of Tim Geithner.

Speaking for me only

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Occupy Treasury: HAMP'd | 35 comments (35 topical)

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If Obama loses next year, (5.00 / 3) (#1)
by Edger on Tue Oct 04, 2011 at 02:58:29 PM EST

it will be because so far, like a pukishly ingratiating waiter with towel over his forearam, he's made sure that all of Tim Geithner's friends have been very well served, and he's also taken care of the bill for them.

If there's anything that is (5.00 / 2) (#7)
by Anne on Tue Oct 04, 2011 at 03:36:56 PM EST

coming through - for me, anyway - from the Suskind book, it is how relentlessly a lot of people - like Geithner - looked out for their own interests and the interests of the banks and Wall Street from whence most of them came. I mean, when Larry Summers is telling Tim Geithner in advance of Geithner's confirmation hearing, that he should never, ever admit that when the two of them were part of the Clinton Treasury, the decision to deregulate and take the brakes off the derivatives market was a mistake, you know you are looking at people who don't give a hoot how policy is going to affect us 99%-ers. Over and over I am reading examples of how the inner circle manipulated and gamed policy for reasons that were all about the good of the financial sector and not remotely for that thing known as "the greater good."

I will give Obama this - so far in what I'm reading, he absolutely wanted to go with a Swedish model for de-toxing the banking system - and he was maneuvered into a Japan model.

I've not gotten to HAMP yet, but I imagine I will be as horrified about how that came to be as I am about everything else.


: "He was maneuvered" (5.00 / 1) (#25)
by Towanda on Tue Oct 04, 2011 at 07:22:48 PM EST

is the worrisome thing. He was not elected to be maneuvered. He was not elected to surround himself with people who would maneuver him.
And Obama has had years now to get rid of them.
So he must want to be maneuvered by them. And then be the victim? Even worse.
I hope, I fervently hope, that Obama dumps Geithner. Obama still could get my vote.

: Yeah.... (none / 0) (#17)
by Edger on Tue Oct 04, 2011 at 05:16:21 PM EST

The whole game is increasing your bonus. You don't go into the city to do the world some good. You go there to make money as quickly as possible, and if that means lying, cheating and stealing that's what you do.
The way people were behaving was a rational way of behaving in the context of the bonus system and the lack of regulation.
--Geraint Anderson
From the documentary Meltdown - The Men Who Crashed The World

No (5.00 / 5) (#2)
by Ga6thDem on Tue Oct 04, 2011 at 03:02:08 PM EST

if Obama loses next year it will be because of Obama. Obama could have fired Geither at any time but didn't.

Where does the buck stop? I forget. (5.00 / 1) (#3)
by oculus on Tue Oct 04, 2011 at 03:10:01 PM EST

Obama doesn't do "The buck stops" (5.00 / 3) (#4)
by MO Blue on Tue Oct 04, 2011 at 03:29:34 PM EST

He does "Hot Potato."


o/t but did you see (none / 0) (#12)
by The Addams Family on Tue Oct 04, 2011 at 04:09:56 PM EST

that Your Sweet Claire is too busy with Senate business to join Obama in a visit to MO today?


No I missed that (5.00 / 2) (#13)
by MO Blue on Tue Oct 04, 2011 at 04:41:19 PM EST

I do know that many people here are concerned that his visit might interfere with people getting to the 3rd. game of the playoffs.

If getting to his speaking engagements and fund raisers makes getting to the stadium harder, he will have made another unforced error. He may be president but the Cards are in the playoffs if you get my drift.


For sure. Don't mess w/Cards' fans. (none / 0) (#15)
by oculus on Tue Oct 04, 2011 at 05:05:21 PM EST

I should ask my friend who couldn't get from Newark to Western PA for my bday bash if she'll still vote for Obama. He was inspecting flood damage from Irene in Patterson NJ. She finally just went home after a day and a half of postponements and cancellations.


Playoff game started before (5.00 / 1) (#32)
by MO Blue on Wed Oct 05, 2011 at 08:37:51 AM EST

Obama flew in so that is the good news. The bad news is that he flew in and shut down one major highway and turned at least two others into parking lots during the height of rush hour.

Unfortunately, due to an ongoing commitment, I was on one of those parking lots, formerly known as Hiway 170.


: Have a sympathy (none / 0) (#33)
by sj on Wed Oct 05, 2011 at 10:20:59 AM EST

"5" rating...

: I called city streets dept. to (none / 0) (#35)
by oculus on Wed Oct 05, 2011 at 02:45:00 PM EST

inquire why there was no traffic control after it took me an hour (usually 15 minutes) to pick up tutoree at school on Monday. Road resurfacing. Mission of contract workers seemed to be lowly putting down the markers for new lane dividers. I asked one of the workers why the back up and no traffic control. He attributed everything to shots fired on nearby freeway 6 hrs. earlier. City streets isn't touching this one. No call back.

Buck? (none / 0) (#24)
by lentinel on Tue Oct 04, 2011 at 06:33:14 PM EST

What buck?

There's a buck?


Oculus, you just don't get it ... (5.00 / 2) (#14)
by Robot Porter on Tue Oct 04, 2011 at 04:59:40 PM EST

nothing is ever Obama's fault. There's always someone else to blame. Someone else to toss under the bus.


This is (5.00 / 1) (#21)
by Ga6thDem on Tue Oct 04, 2011 at 05:31:54 PM EST

one of the areas that distinctly remind me of George W. Bush. Let's see the "professional left" was the reason why things in Iraq were so crappy according to him. Even though the GOP controlled all three branches of government somehow it was the Dems fault that things went into the crapper. Obama flails around just like Bush trying to find somebody else to blame just like Bush did.


: There is another (5.00 / 2) (#23)
by lentinel on Tue Oct 04, 2011 at 06:31:38 PM EST

similarity between Bush and Obama:
Neither of them give a sh_t what we think.

Someone else to toss under the bus ??? (none / 0) (#19)
by Erehwon on Tue Oct 04, 2011 at 05:26:37 PM EST

Naah, it's always the professional left! :-(


All those who seem incredulous (5.00 / 2) (#28)
by NYShooter on Tue Oct 04, 2011 at 08:17:32 PM EST

as to why Geithner remains on the job with the economy maneuvered into such perilous straits as to put Obama into mortal peril of his political life need to do a little more investigating as to how this came to be, and why Obama didn't, and won't, fire the man responsible for our condition.

Geithner is not a failure; he has succeeded beyond his master's wildest expectations. I mean, you have to understand that his job isn't to see that the economy grows, and creates jobs, and provides all of us with a growing standard of living. He couldn't care less about the economy, jobs, and as to all of us, please, give it a break.

As I wrote here a few days ago, Geithner was not Obama's first choice. The new President got a rude awakening as to "the way things are done in Washington," when he was informed, ordered rather, that Geithner was the choice of "The Committee." The Committee is made up of the heads of the half dozen biggest banks. Geithner was "their man," and Obama simply, and meekly, submitted to the Powers that run this country. Paulsen told him the decision was not negotiable, and, so, rather than take a stand and fight for the "Change" he promised on his campaign every day and night, he just surrendered and sold out the country as ordered.

Every one of the few "chosen ones" who run the country are ten time richer, more powerful, and bigger than they were before the depression. That was the plan, and Timmie came through with flying colors.

So, right after Geithner was confirmed at Treasury, history recorded, the phone rang and a 5 way conection was established. Only four words were spoken, "We got our man," and the rape of the middle class was a fait accompli.

So please folks, no more naïve questions about, "why didn't Obama fire Geithner when he......."

A. Geithner doesn't take his orders from Obama
And
B. Obama, faced with the decision: Fight the enemy, or join the enemy?

You don't need me to tell which choice he made.

And, that's why they're at Occupy Wall Street.


They don't stop anymore (none / 0) (#5)
by Dadler on Tue Oct 04, 2011 at 03:30:40 PM EST

Corporations are the same as people, except with MUCH deeper pockets. Stopping the buck, well, that seems harder than ever right now.

As for the-buck-stops-here Truman, Obama's more like the Truman Show, living in some alternate reality it seems like.


If corporations are the same as people (5.00 / 1) (#18)
by Edger on Tue Oct 04, 2011 at 05:18:11 PM EST

can we execute some of them?


He seems resigned to losing: (none / 0) (#6)
by oculus on Tue Oct 04, 2011 at 03:33:13 PM EST

Stephanopoulos interviews Pres. Obama


I saw that (5.00 / 2) (#9)
by Ga6thDem on Tue Oct 04, 2011 at 03:39:08 PM EST

Talk about giving the GOP what it wants. If he really cared about the party, he would step down and let someone else run as the Presidential nominee.


Step down? (5.00 / 1) (#16)
by NYShooter on Tue Oct 04, 2011 at 05:09:45 PM EST

O.K. you squeezed it out of me.

I have this fantasy where Obama just gets his private poll numbers, and they point to certain defeat. So, he goes on T.V. and announces to the world that he's had an epiphany. He recalls the hotly fought Primary vs. HRC, and the issue of 1'st Black vs. 1'st Female, He states, magnanimously, how it isn't fair that so many devoted Hillary voters should, forever probably, be denied the opportunity to experience a Hillary Clinton Presidency. Therefore, he would resign the
Presidency on the condition that the Democrats would nominate HRC for the slot, and, that Hillary, after winning the election, would nominate Obama for Secretary of State.

And, the best is yet to come. Guess who Hillary picks to be her Vice President candidate?

Elizabeth Warren!

Thank you, good night, and God Bless America.


: I am (none / 0) (#20)
by Ga6thDem on Tue Oct 04, 2011 at 05:28:35 PM EST

not looking forward to this next election year for sure. The way the GOP is going I have to wonder if they even want to win.
Almost anybody would be better to run than Obama at this point.

If I say I'm a failure, won't (none / 0) (#10)
by oculus on Tue Oct 04, 2011 at 03:40:20 PM EST

the GOP reach across the aisle and say, now, now, don't be so pessimistic.


I think he prefers to run as the underdog; (5.00 / 3) (#11)
by Anne on Tue Oct 04, 2011 at 03:50:26 PM EST

it's a more sympathetic, me-against-the-world kind of thing that's worked for him in the past.

Plus it lowers expectations, and probably helps with the begging-for-money aspect.

It's hard to raise a billion dollars, you know...


The fickle finger of fate (5.00 / 1) (#29)
by NYShooter on Tue Oct 04, 2011 at 08:34:09 PM EST

Just two and a half years ago.

After eight of the most disastrous years any administration could deliver, the country roared in one gigantic, spontaneous voice, "George Bush, banished forever to the dustbin of history, and Barrack Obama given the greatest cache of political power and majorities any President has had in over 60 years.

And, as the feature article in the New Yorker asked, "what did he do with it?"

Answer: Nothing....absolutely nothing.

Watching him grovel for a billion bucks now, what can you say?

Pitiful....just pitiful


: Well, he HAS managed to endanger (5.00 / 2) (#31)
by sj on Tue Oct 04, 2011 at 10:50:58 PM EST

Social Security and Medicare. So there's that.

Well, there it is. How dispiriting for us (none / 0) (#26)
by Towanda on Tue Oct 04, 2011 at 07:27:16 PM EST

as an incumbent playing the underdog has to be a Harry S Truman. And that, Obama is not. It seems that when he feels the heat, he blames the kitchen.


: That's what (5.00 / 2) (#27)
by Ga6thDem on Tue Oct 04, 2011 at 07:36:40 PM EST

I think about whenever Obama starts to whine--no one made you run for President and if you can't stand the heat, get the heck out of the kitchen. If you don't like the job well, you don't have to run for reelection.

That's the real reason (5.00 / 3) (#22)
by NYShooter on Tue Oct 04, 2011 at 05:34:43 PM EST

for all this Q.E.1, 2, 3...crap

Its an undisguised program of bailing out the Pigs of Wall Street over a period of time, instead in one fell swoop. The banks continue to borrow at zero from the government, and sell to the government at 3-4 ½ %. That's not even a secret. The Banks are basically the designated brokers for the U.S. Government whereby all the big time borrowers and purchasers of U.S. Debt, instead of dealing directly with Uncle Sam, have to do it through J.P. Morgan and his half dozen bastard brothers and sisters......until all the trillions of dollars of worthless $hit they carry on their books (as if the broken down, dilapidated, condemned, foreclosed homes they own are all still worth $500,000 each, are "liquified." Since they don't have to tell us, nobody knows if its one dollar or 100 trillion.

And, if "the people's representatives, the Senators and Congress people ask Jamie Dimon, "how much of this worthless crap do you still have on your books. The taxpayers want to know." He tells them, "Up yours, and up their's too. It's none of your business. Just keep the moolah flowing, and I'll let you know what I'm doing with all the taxpayer profits I'm making when I'm good and ready.

Like Never.

Any more questions, Senator? Yeah? Well, here's the answer. Ef You and Ef Them.

Sounds crazy, doesn't it? Just ask Tracy. She'll tell you. It's 100% true.

We're supposed to be happy that a financial (5.00 / 1) (#34)
by ruffian on Wed Oct 05, 2011 at 10:24:01 AM EST

meltdown was averted for everyone except the duped home-debtors.

I can't even remember (none / 0) (#8)
by Militarytracy on Tue Oct 04, 2011 at 03:38:12 PM EST

what financial article I was reading the other day, but I was reading one. It was one about the recession we are in again so it wasn't an enormously popular one because some individuals would like to debate that fact. Anyhow, I digress...they gave the continuing mortgage crisis a 50% responsibility for us being here AGAIN.

Banks must earn their way back to health. We cannot unwind all this crap or the world would explode. There is so much crap out there though to unwind...everyone would have a bean counter or verifying job of some kind while we did it.

C'mon - 0bummer is 0bummer's fault - he's an (none / 0) (#30)
by seabos84 on Tue Oct 04, 2011 at 10:08:33 PM EST

elitist sell out.

rmm